"Of course things were always so much simpler with my oldest." Dualscar of House Ampora, the Orphaner of Derse, swirled the night-black coffee in his mug and frowned at it as if his problems were the coffee's fault. He surreptitiously unhooked a flask from his belt and slopped a little of the contents into the mug. His host didn't approve of alcohol, but fuck him, Dualscar was the one paying him.
"How so, sir?" asked Darkleer, looking up from the gun on his workbench. The tiny tip of the screwdriver in his hand looked ridiculous attached to the chunky handle, made so to prevent his enormous hands crushing or dropping it. Dualscar knew he had designed it himself, as he did all his tools, and the comical appearance belied their owner's great skill. "Was he more obedient?"
"No, but I had better leverage," Dualscar explained. "Boy's obsessed with his music; if I have to punish him I just have to take his instruments away, or take a cane to his hands. Nah, Eri's a scrapper, I am proud of him but pain doesn't seem to get through to him. And his favourite thing to do is hunt, but I can't very well deny him that. Kid needs all the training he can get." Dualscar noticed Darkleer's slight head-shake of disapproval, but didn't comment.
"Well, sir, I am fortunate. I have never had such problems with my sons."
"Good thing too, you'd have killed the poor little buggers if you tried to smack 'em."
"That is true. When I have had issues with their behaviour a simple explanation of what they did wrong usually suffices."
Dualscar scoffed. "Tried that, it just makes my boys do it again. I can't introduce them at court if I can't get them to behave."
"Well, sir..." Darkleer said, returning to his work. "You did say denying your oldest his music worked. Is there anything else you could use to cause inconvenience or distress rather than pain for your youngest?"
Dualscar sipped his coffee again. "You may be onto something there."